LONG COVID: Our Most Troubling Epidemic

You may not see anyone wearing masks anymore, but COVID is still out there. The real problem now is LONG COVID; that plethora of debilitating symptoms potentially lasting for weeks, months, and sometimes longer, following what on the surface may have been anywhere from a mild case to a devastatingly severe case of COVID. Furthermore, we now know two or three episodes of COVID increases your risk for LONG COVID. 

The statistics about long COVID are pretty grim. Here in the U.S.: 

• 4 million people are disabled from it and out of work, 
• 14 million people still have long COVID symptoms, 
• 22% with long COVID were unable to work due to ill health (many others simply lost their jobs),
• 45% with long COVID had to reduce their work hours.

Fatigue is by far the main symptom, especially after minimal physical effort, but close behind are shortness of breath, headaches, tingling/numbness in the arms and legs, poor focus and concentration, ringing in ears, change in vision, loss of smell and taste, palpitations. Patients with any chronic illness, like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, find that once their acute COVID symptoms are over, their chronic condition took an upswing in severity, often for weeks, before returning to original levels. 

If you’re a LONG COVID patient, you’ll be met with a sympathetic shrug of helplessness by your primary care physician who’ll confirm the diagnosis, but add “there’s no magic bullet” and “treat the symptoms”. She may fill out some disability insurance paperwork, itself an uphill battle. You might get sent to a specialist only to hear the same bad news, “Treat the symptoms. We don’t know the root cause.” 

New Research, New Treatments 

I don’t expect you to remember this, but back when the pandemic was at its worst and people were on ventilators and dying by the thousands, the words cytokine storm kept appearing. Cytokines are molecules secreted by the immune system that trigger inflammation. The release of cytokines was your body’s attempt to kill the virus but overshot the mark. Then part of treatment was to give steroids to quell the inflammation. The cytokines also triggered microscopic blood clots (micro-clots) blocking blood flow and reducing oxygen to all the vital organs. Treatment was to use blood thinners. 

Is Long Covid Too Many Cytokines or Not Enough? 

Initially scientists thought long COVID was caused by smoldering COVID virus churning out continuous inflammatory cytokines. You simply remained “inflamed”, but this wasn’t the case. Cytokine levels were actually lower among long COVID patients. Too low, in fact, for the immune system to function properly, too low for the body to heal. Your body filled with unhealed damaged tissue, which itself is a source of inflammation.

The Wholehealth Chicago Program For Long Covid 

To begin with, this is a program cobbled together from other integrative medical centers around the world and research papers from medical journals devoted to COVID issues. Patients frequently ask, “Why doesn’t my doctor at XYZ Major Medical Center know this?”. Actually, she probably does, but is limited in her therapeutic choices by an entity usually called, “Pharmacy Committee”. Still, conventional or alternative, there is no magic bullet when it comes to long COVID. 

• High potency ozone therapy with ultraviolet light: Also called ‘autohemotherapy’, removes about ½ cup of your blood, passes it through ozone (O3) and ultraviolet and returns it to you. This “hyper-oxygenates” every cell in your body and everything starts functioning more efficiently. Generally five sessions are recommended. 

• Thymosin Alpha-1 injections: This is a peptide (a short chain of amino acids) you self inject using a very tiny needle, 3 days a week for about 2 months to strengthen your immune system.

• BPC-157 injections: This is a second peptide, 3 days a week for two months, to repair tissues through the body.

• Low dose naltrexone (LDN): 4.5 mg capsules at bedtime (from a compounding pharmacy). The only way to describe this long time favorite among integrative physicians is that LDN “steadies” the immune system. 

• Natto-Serrazime (Designs for Health): One capsule twice a day. These are enzymes developed (and used) in Japan and China to dissolve micro-clots.

• CytoQuel (Researched Nutritionals): Three capsules daily. These support normal cytokine activity.

• MitoCore (OrthoMolecular): Two capsules, twice a day. High potency antioxidants for mitochondrial well being. 

If you, or someone you love, still struggles with long COVID, call or request an appointment with a WholeHealth Chicago practitioner.

Be well,

David Edelberg, MD